Posted in ETL503

Creating a Collection Development Policy

Wow. Where. To. Begin. ?!

I have recently taken over a school library from the previous TL who had been there 15 years. A lovely lady and a fabulous teacher who ran a tight ship and (what appeared to be) an organised library. But a policy? A procedures manual? Neither are currently in place, or appear to ever have been.

Debowski (2001) and Johnson (2018) both provide a good guide as to what should be included. I can see Johnson’s book being well worn over the next few years as I look for guidance on writing the necessary doucments.

The other document that has struck me as very user friendly and incredibly helpful in making the process seem less daunting is A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres VCTL & ALIA (2017).

In terms of digital resources, our library currently has very few in the collection. Thus I anticipate that reference will be made to the need for them in the goals of the collection to be set in the policy. One of the aims of the library should be to provide a balanced collection that provides a range of formats to suit the needs of users and a statement of such nature would need to be included.

Johnson (2018, p. 92) states that “Libraries may include a section…. that addresses the complexities of selecting and managing e-resources. However, many libraries have moved away…. and increasingly integrate e-resources into overall policy”. Given the expectation that e-resources will be offered these days I agree that the selection and weeding criteria etc can be kept general in the policy documents and specific procedures needed to handle e-resources saved for a section of the procedures manual.

But, hey, I’m new to this gig! New to digital resources and policy documents so I may change that opinion along the way. And that is why policies are continually reviewed and updated 🙂

References

Australian Library and Information Association Schools and Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians (2017). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres (2nd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Author. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/ALIA%20Schools%20policies%20and%20procedures%20manual_FINAL.pdf

Debowski, S. (2001). Collection management policies. In K. Dillon, J. Henri & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less: collection management for school libraries (2nd ed., pp. 126-136). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Johnson, P. (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management [American Library Association version]. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1856983&site=ehost-live